Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari City Commission approved lodgers tax funding aid requests for events in the next fiscal year but declined to act on whether to allocate funds for the main operation of the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce, citing the lack of a recommendation from the city’s lodgers tax board.
Commissioners on Thursday unanimously approved these promotional fund requests as recommended by the lodgers tax advisory board:
— Fired Up festival, $6,900;
— Chamber of commerce events, $7,500;
— Wheels on Fire, $10,500;
— Rattler Reunion, $3,873.89.
Commissioners also approved $4,000 in lodgers tax executive funds for a benefit golf tournament for the Mesalands Community College Foundation.
They tabled action on a $115,000 request for new equipment for Tucumcari Municipal Golf Course, noting its manager may have found alternate funding sources.
When it came to the $47,000 in requested lodgers tax executive funds for the chamber, no commissioner made a motion. Mayor Ralph Moya and other commissioners had noted no recommendation on that request came from the lodgers board. (Commissioner Christopher Arias was absent from Thursday’s meeting.)
City manager Paula Chacon said after the meeting the city still might allocate funding for the chamber if it acts before the end of June.
Chamber executive director Scott Crotzer was disappointed about the lack of action regarding his office’s main funding but remained resolute.
“I have to make this work; I have to,” he said. “I want to do this. I gave up other job opportunities.”
During an earlier work session Thursday, Moya mentioned there was no recommendation from the lodgers tax advisory board on the chamber’s $47,000 request. He asked whether the commission should return the matter to the advisory board.
Commissioner Mike Cherry dismissed that idea.
“Let us decide,” he said.
Crotzer said during the work session the chamber has existed since 1910 and that it received a total of $83,000 in funding as recently as 2016.
Crotzer said the city over time has taken away many of the chamber’s duties, including tourism marketing.
“We are stripped to almost nothing,” Crotzer said.
Despite the less financial support in recent years, Crotzer cited his efforts to restore the building, beef up its role as a visitors center and add or restore murals on both sides of the structure.
(The chamber building suffered flooding and roof damage hours after the meeting due to a severe storm, and it will be closed indefinitely.)
Moya noted the chamber once had an adversarial relationship with the city. Crotzer said that happened during previous administrations and not during his tenure.
Other action
— Commissioners approved a resolution of sponsorship for a state Transportation Project Fund application to repair Third and Fourth streets near Main Street. The city’s share of the $2.2 million project is $110,664.25, but project manager Ralph Lopez said he would request a match waiver.
Moya asked whether a recently awarded capital outlay allocation for street repairs could be used for the match, if necessary. Chacon said she would check that.
— Commissioners approved a resolution of sponsorship for a state Transportation Project Fund application for repairs on South Third Street south of Washington Avenue to its dead end at Interstate 40. The city’s share of the $1.78 million project would be $88,942. Lopez said he would request a match waiver on it, as well.
— A motion to approve a professional services contract with Tucumcari MainStreet for $60,000 a year died for the lack of a second. Cherry said he wanted a full accounting of Tucumcari MainStreet’s funding sources, especially from the Local Economic Development Act, and the organization’s executive director, Connie Loveland, said she wanted that information, too.
Loveland or Chacon said they would try to get that data from Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation executive director Patrick Vanderpool before he resigns on June 1.
— Commissioners tabled a proposed audit contract with Axiom CPAs of Albuquerque for fiscal-year 2023. Cherry said he wanted on-site visits for the entrance and exit conferences added to the contract.
— Commissioners approved permission for Tucumcari Senior Center program director Clara Rey to submit a capital outlay application for renovations. City documents states the center will request $266,486 to replace an existing west parking lot and add handicapped spaces on the front and south side of the building.
— Commissioners approved a 2023-2024 budget, assurances and documents for senior center funding. It assures the state will commit $62,111 to the Tucumcari program.
— Commissioners approved the appointment of Jessie Robinson to the Tucumcari Senior Center Advisory Board.
— Thursday’s meeting was when commissioners would have chosen a District 3 commissioner. However, no applications have been submitted in the city’s latest round of requests. Moya said after the meeting the city would keep the application window open, and he would talk to fellow commissioners at a future work session on what to do next. District 3 has been without representation since December, when Ruth Ann Litchfield retired.
Manager’s report
Items from Chacon’s regular report to the commission:
— She said seven city departments helped clean Tucumcari Municipal Pool. Chacon said she had hoped a contractor would have checked for leaks and performed pressure tests on the pool this week, but it will be performed this week instead.
If the pool passes those checks, the city then could begin to make plans to reopen the facility. The pool has been closed since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and then leaks.
— Lopez said the state will provide $900,000 to make up a funding shortfall for a proposed fuel farm at Tucumcari Municipal Airport. The airport initially was awarded $1.2 million in federal funds for the project, but it was far short of what was needed due to inflation.
— Chacon said the new cell at the landfill will began to accept dumping from all parties on May 30.
— Chacon said she paid Jerry Lopez $3,000 for his help in setting up the recent Cinco de Mayo Celebration at the Tucumcari Convention Center. Lopez previously helped organize the New Mexico Music Showcase, a precursor.
Comments
— During commissioner comments, Moya said the Northside Park needs more attention, citing exposed electrical wires, gates being left open, weeds on the basketball court and a broken merry-go-round. Chacon said she was looking for grants to buy new playground equipment for city parks.
— Moya said one city ambulance lost power and was in a shop in Clovis to repair a suspected turbo problem. Chacon said that still leaves three working ambulances in the fleet.
— Moya issued praise and criticism over actions during last week’s power outage. (See other story in this edition.)
— During public comments, Gilbert Pacheco accused Moya of misleading statements about the ongoing saga with disposing an abandoned pontoon boat. Pacheco went over his allotted time of three minutes, and he was escorted out of the building by Police Chief Patti Lopez when he refused to stop talking. Moya said he was inclined to move public comments to the last part of the meeting or scrap it entirely.
Work sessions
— During a work session, Moya voiced his support to a forming Tucumcari Convention Center task force to provide oversight, recommendations and ideas for its operation. He cited long lines for the two bars at the Cinco de Mayo Celebration. Moya asked that commissioners submit recommendations for task-force members before the next meeting.
— Chacon said the city was considering a request for proposals for a new tourism marketer. She said she was approached by the Tucumcari/Quay County Chamber of Commerce to perform some of those duties.
— During another work session last Tuesday, considerable discussion centered around funding animal control. Cherry said the city should consider doubling the budgeted amount for euthanizing animals. He later said he wasn’t literal in his request but was trying to “make a point.” Cherry said it was “unacceptable” that animal control cannot impound animals because its kennel is full. He said even Paws & Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County affirms that euthanasia must be considered an option.
— Rey said the state legislature likely will push to raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour. She said the senior center lacks funds to even pay employees $15 an hour.